play

LEGEND

BEGIN

The mini-USB plug provides power and charges the internal battery. Use the cable and power supply provided. (The included supply supplies 2A via USB connector.)

Hold K1 for three seconds.

Be still, and norns will awaken with a welcome chime.

There’s a small light near the power plug. ORANGE means power. WHITE means disk access.

Please DO NOT USE THE BOTTOM WHITE BUTTON. This button is essentially like pulling the power cord on a desktop computer and runs the risk of disk corruption. If you are unable to SLEEP your norns due to a lockup situation, push-and-hold K3-K2-K1 (in this order) for 10 seconds and the system will safely reset.

The installed software version will be listed under the script’s name (eg. 191101). The format is YY-MM-DD.

SELECT

Explore the collection of scripts. Selecting a script will show a description. Forward again will run the script. The play screen will return upon running. Quickly tap K1 to toggle between PLAY and NOPLAY.

If you wish to clear a currently running script, highlight SELECT + hold K1. You’ll see CLEAR in the middle of the screen – press K3 to clear the currently running script.

SYSTEM

DEVICES - This is a list of connected USB hardware with their associated port number. Most scripts address port 1. See norns study 4 for a scripting guide to multiple ports. This section lets you re-assign connected devices to specific ports.

time constant (1/e smoothing time) for compression gain to exponentially approach a new lower target level

comp release

[1, 1000] ms

time constant (1/e smoothing time) for compression gain to exponentially approach a new higher target level

comp pre gain

[-inf, 30] db

gain pre compression

comp post gain

[-inf, 30] db

gain post compression

MIDI

CLOCK

With norns firmware 200424, a global clock system was introduced. This means that it’s dead simple to pass clock from an external source to a norns script, provided the script has been updated to use the new clock system.

To clock a script from MIDI:

navigate to PARAMETERS > EDIT

move down to CLOCK

set it to MIDI

DEVICES

To ensure a connected MIDI device is recognized by a currently running script, navigate to SYSTEM > DEVICES > MIDI and select your MIDI device:

MIDI MAP

To control a script’s parameters with MIDI, please see the PARAMETERS > MAP section above.

NETWORK CONNECT

Scripts can be created and edited using a web browser when norns is connected to a network. These scripts will appear in the SELECT list for later play.

If you do not have access to a router, you can turn the norns into a WIFI hotspot. This will create a new network which you can then connect to with your computer:

SSID: norns

password: nnnnnnnn

SSH

When connected via WIFI you can SSH into norns from another computer on the same network at the IP address shown in SYSTEM.

open a Terminal on a Mac/Win/Linux computer

execute ssh we@norns.local or ssh we@<IP_ADDRESS_SHOWN_IN_SYSTEM>

password: sleep

SERIAL (NO WIFI)

Without WIFI, you can connect to norns via USB-UART by connecting the power cable to your computer. On Mac/linux, open a terminal and type:

screen /dev/tty.usb

then, press TAB to autocomplete your serial number

then type 115200

So, in total: screen /dev/tty.usb[TAB KEY] 115200

If you see a blank screen, press ENTER.

You’ll be asked for login credentials. Login is the same as SSH above.

UPDATE

Updates to the core norns software can be installed easily via the SYSTEM menu. You must first be connected to the internet via wifi and have at least 400M free disk space. If a new version is available you will be prompted to continue installing. Audio will be disabled during this time. Note that the download time may be a few minutes, have patience. Upon completion you’ll be notified of success or failure, then the unit will ask for your confirmation to shut down.

If for some reason you wish to re-run an update, hold K1 while selecting SYSTEM > UPDATE. norns will notify you that it has found the most recent update and you can follow the prompts to install.

If you are running 181101 or earlier it’s recommended to do a fresh install.